CUMMING, Ga. — A City of Cumming worker faces charges in Forsyth County after police say he killed a fellow employee in the parking lot by hitting them with his city-issued truck.
Police said it appeared the suspect, 43-year-old Kevin Turner, hit and killed 44-year-old Crystal Sawyer.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in Cumming where it happened, at a very small parking lot March 10 at the city’s water facilities building on Dahlonega Highway.
According to the police report, Turner was driving a Chevy Silverado around 7 a.m. when Sawyer got to the parking lot. She had her dog with her and bent down when she got out of her car.
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The report said that when she stood up and headed toward the building in the well-lit parking lot, Turner was driving his truck nearby, and “the front left corner of Mr. Turner’s vehicle strikes Ms. Sawyer, causing fatal injuries.”
A city spokesperson said all workers are drug tested when something like this incident happens, but they wouldn’t tell Channel 2 Action News what the results of the test for Turner were, or if he is still employed by the city.
Fernandes made an open records request to find out if Turner was fired.
Police did arrest Turner and charged him with homicide by vehicle in the second degree, and he has since bonded out on a nearly $5,000 bond.
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A police report helped shed some light on the circumstances, but those living in the city still can’t quite wrap their heads around it.
“It’s a very sad thing,” said Cumming resident Carol Little.
She didn’t know the city workers personally but said it was something she and many others in Forsyth County were having trouble processing.
“The City of Cumming is completely devastated following this tragic accident that resulted in the loss of life of a treasured City employee. The City of Cumming is very much a family, and we are all in shock and utterly heartbroken following this morning’s tragedy,” officials wrote in a statement after the incident.
After identifying Sawyer, City Administrator Phil Higgins said she was a “treasured City of Cumming employee with a bubbly, outgoing personality who made everyone she encountered feel welcome. She also had a very fun sense of humor and kept her co-workers laughing. She was a hard worker who was loved by all her supervisors and co-workers.”
Channel 2 Action News was able to find some of Sawyer’s relatives, but they did not want to comment on the tragic story.
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